Feeling more comfortbale

As a few weeks have passed, I feel more comfortable teaching at Christ the King as I have become more aware of some of the nuances. First I have never taught on a block schedule before. Regular periods last 35 minutes but the more important subjects are taught as two 35 minute periods back to back so the class will last 70 minutes. For the third graders this seems to be a bit long. Both the math and grammar classes that I teach are block periods. The students do have breaks throughout the day...a 15 minute break in the morning and 45 minutes for lunch.

It is also interesting how the students greet their teachers. At the beginning of class, the teacher will say, "Good morning" and the students respond, "Good morning Mr./Mrs. Last name." Then the teacher will say, "How is the class doing today" and the class responds, "We are fine, thanks, and you?" It is pretty cute. Outside of the classroom many of the students acknowledge their teachers by either waving or saying good morning or good afternoon. Also in class most teachers do not call on students by using their names but rather make eye contact with the student they want to answer the question or they simply point to the student. When a student is called on, they stand by their desk as they answer the question.

Teaching continues to go well. In my math class this week we are wrapping up multiplication and will begin simple division. In my grammar class we have finished learning about synonyms and will begin learning about prepositions.